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Saturday open house a chance to learn about Sikh faith

By Krista Ramsey
9:18 p.m. EDT April 10, 2014

Women worship inside of the Guru Nanak Society gurdwara April 5. All visitors to the gurdwara remove remove their shoes and cover their heads before entering the main hall. Sikh women typically wear head scarves as part of their traditional dress and men typically wear turbans. Head scarves are provided to visitors if needed.
(Photo:
The Enquirer/Amanda Rossmann
)

Story Highlights

The Guru Nanak Society invites Greater Cincinnatians to a community open house from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, 4394 Tylersville Road, West Chester 45069.

The open house is an opportunity to learn more about the 500-year-old Sikh faith, which began in the Punjab region of northwestern India.

There are an estimated 25 million Sikhs worldwide, from 250,000 to 500,000 in the U.S., with 15 Sikh worship centers in Ohio.

In 1996 the Guru Nanak Society opened its first religious center in West Chester Township, home to 40 families.

Fifteen years later, it built a larger worship center, gleaming white, set back from Tylersville Road and home to 500 families.

Harjinder Singh, president of the center, stands outside his house of worship and smiles. "Even now," he says good-naturedly, sweeping his arm toward the housing development behind him, "if we asked our neighbors, people wouldn't know if we were Sikhs or we were Muslims."

A man worships inside of the Guru Nanak Society Gurdwara on April 5. All visitors to the Gurdwara remove remove their shoes and cover their heads before entering the main hall. Sikh women typically wear head scarves as part of their traditional dress and men typically wear turbans. Head scarves are provided to visitors if needed. (Photo: The Enquirer/ Amanda Rossmann)

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Visible clues don't seem to help, like Singh's burnt-orange turban or the iron bracelet on his right wrist. Even in a land of religious freedom, there is no guarantee of religious understanding.

So this weekend – 315 years after the Sikh Nation was established as the Khalsa and told to stand up for human rights and religious freedom – gurdwaras, or Sikh worship centers, around the world will open their doors and invite their communities to come inside and find out who they are.

And also who they aren't. Since 9/11 Sikhs have been misidentified as terrorists and periodically targeted for violence, including the 2012 shooting deaths of six Sikhs at their gurdwara in suburban Milwaukee. Local Sikhs say even well-intentioned friends and strangers still assume they are Hindu or Muslim.

It's led some to paste bumper stickers on their cars declaring, "Sikh American," and others to host rallies and hold up signs saying, "I am not a terrorist."

"If you talk to Sikhs, they'd say, 'Just look at what we are, what we do, how hard we work,'" Singh says. "Within two or three years of coming here, many Sikhs have their own homes and sometimes their own businesses. A lot started not very conversant in English, but they started driving taxis and trucks and now they own their own trucking companies or gas stations or hotels. They use the free enterprise system very well, and they aren't afraid to work hard."

Although more than 250,000 Americans are Sikh, many of their neighbors and coworkers know little about the Sikh faith. An April 12 open house at the West Chester Guruwara, or worship center, seeks to enlighten them.

Hard work is one of three central principles of the faith, which was founded in the 15th century in the Punjab region of northwestern India and now has an estimated 25 million adherents worldwide – an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 in the U.S. The other two principles are being constantly mindful of God and sharing what one has. Core Sikh values include honesty, social justice and equality for all. Sikhs renounce superstition, blind rituals and caste systems, and warn against five vices: lust, anger, greed, worldly attachments and ego.

"We value freedom, equality and being ready to fight for it," Singh says. "Our way of thinking is very close to the American ideal."

Sikhs at the West Chester gurdwara, one of 15 worship centers across Ohio, say they want to be partners in interfaith efforts in Greater Cincinnati and resources to their community. At Saturday's open house, they'll observe Guru Ka Langar, the tradition of free food for guests, and provide tours of the gurdwara along with Sikh devotional music and activities and crafts for families.

They hope community members will embrace the day as an opportunity to ask questions about Sikh beliefs and practices. And they hope local Sikhs will see they can fully embrace who they are, including wearing a turban and not cutting their hair.

"When Sikhs came here, a lot of professionals kept their appearance. But as more came, a lot haven't kept their appearance – in America, you see a lot of them not adhere to their practice," says Singh, who, when he moved to Cincinnati in 1979 to work as a design engineer for GE, was the only employee with a turban. "So what I'd say to Sikhs is 'this is one country where by law everybody is equal so you don't have to change yourself to fit in.' There are so many hues to America. This is one country where we should be proud of our heritage – and expose ourselves for what we are." ■

If you go

The Guru Nanak Society invites Greater Cincinnatians to a community open house from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, 4394 Tylersville Road, West Chester 45069.